Midnight Memories
by Aremitia
Summary: Fujiwara no Sai- ghost, Go tutor, best friend. Ever since he was a child, Hikaru has always believed Sai is real, even when Sai disappears from his life as a ghost only to show himself in dreams. Akari is convinced that Hikaru is having memories of a past life and Shindo Mitsuko just believes her baby boy has an imaginary friend. A/U.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **Hello~This is my first fanfiction written, please be nice. This will also be the first (and last) A/N posted in front of chapters, future chapters will have their A/Ns posted on my profile instead if they are unimportant, in order not to clutter things up :)

Warnings: I have not read or watched HnG past the first few episodes, fell in love with it, started reading HnG fanfiction, plot was spoiled, found out Sai disappears, spent the entire day crying, vowed never to go back to watch and complete HnG, read the wiki to get my facts right instead. Quite certain I'd cry everytime I see Sai in the anime or manga and end up dehydrated. I also do not play Go, so excuse me if I make mistakes when writing the games. Also expect sporadic update_s_. This story is also spontaneous \- that means there is no concrete plan for it yet, I'm sorry! I'm also a super friendly person (I don't bite) and I like criticism, so do share with me your thoughts and point out any mistakes you spot!

Here's the prologue of my new story~ It is inspired by Esa Marie's **Lost Memories**, and other pieces of HnG fiction~ HnG authors please update faster, I live for this fandom. D:

* * *

**Midnight Memories**

**Prologue**

** T**he first time Shindo Mitsuko realised something was weird and she found out what it was when her child asked her for a brush.

It wasn't Hikaru asking for a brush that tipped her off. It was what he _did_ with it.

Now, Hikaru was a teeny weeny five year old, still cute enough to be passed off as a toddler. Mitsuko knew that children his age did arts and crafts in pre-school, so she logically concluded that Hikaru would like a paint brush to paint with. Finding nothing wrong with that, she bought Hikaru a brand new paint set that afternoon. The bright little boy smiled brilliantly as he received it, and rushed off as fast as his little legs could carry him. Hikaru was an active child even back then, so Mitsuko was understandably confunded when Hikaru did no more than come out from his room to grab a drink for the whole of that evening until dinner. He ate dinner as fast as Mitsuko had seen him eating, and went back into his room.

Mitsuko peeked into the room and to her great surprise, Hikaru wasn't doing anything untoward with the paint set, but instead was concentrating very hard on something spread before him- Mitsuko couldn't quite see it from where she was facing his back. She noted that her son had put two cushions out and placed a spare next to to the one he was sitting on.

Once again, Mitsuko came to the logical conclusion that Hikaru had an imaginary friend once she heard him mumble to himself (or the space next to him, rather), "like this?"

Knocking at the door and slowly opening it wider (pretending that she hadn't been spying on her child) and let herself in. "Hikaru, dear, can you let mummy see what you painted?"

Hikaru, what a cheerful boy he was, with that blinding smile of his that spread to his eyes, nodded and pointed his chubby little finger toward the table.

Mitsuko started when she saw what her child had been doing.

_Calligraphy_? She thought to herself in disbelief.

She made to sit down on the empty cushion next to Hikaru because she suddenly felt very confused indeed, but Hikaru's cry of "Mummy! You can't sit there, that's Sai's seat!" had her wobbling back upright.

"Sai?" Mitsuko asked her child gently, though her insides were churning over reasons why her child- who loved soccer and water balloon fights and running and never for a second showed an interest in anything related to art before that year- was doing _calligraphy_ of all things, out of the blue. The most surprising thing was that the child was writing in an archaic Japanese syllabary, _sogana_, which is now only used for aesthetic purposes. Wherever had he _learnt that_?

Belatedly she also noticed that Hikaru's cursive handwriting wasn't bad at all.

".. He's teaching me calligraphy!" Mitsuko saw Hikaru's eyes flick toward the space on top of the empty cushion before answering her question.

"Is Sai your.. Friend?" Mitsuko asked gently. She read in a book somewhere before that imaginary friends are a unique and magical way for children to express their imagination, and that was something she didn't mind cultivating in Hikaru. Besides, calligraphy isn't a bad thing, it would help with Hikaru's penmanship in the future. She'd have _problems_ if 'Sai' was teaching her child Bad Things- like how to punch people, or worse.

"Yes, mummy."

"Okay then," Mitsuko murmured as she turned to leave. "The two of you behave yourself. I'll be back in an hour to get you ready for bed okay?"

"Okay mummy!" Hikaru chirped, bright green eyes shining.

Before Mitsuko closed the door, she saw Hikaru's eyes dart toward the space above the other cushion again. 'Huh, an imaginary friend. That explains a lot.' Mitsuko mused as she washed the dinner plates. She often saw Hikaru talking to himself, ever since he was a baby, but that was something children did all the time, so she had always brushed it off. It was only today that she was aware that her child had an imaginary friend, apparently named 'Sai'. She wondered when it started, but put it to the back of her mind.

* * *

The next time Mitsuko heard about Sai from Hikaru was after she talked to her father-in-law on the phone.

"Mitsuko," he said, "do you know that little Hikaru wants the antique Go board I have in my attic? I'd give it to him, but only if I have your permission."

Mitsuko's eyebrows climbed up her forehead and were hidden behind her bangs. "What? Why does he want it?"

"I have no clue," confessed Heihachi. "I asked him if he's ever played Go before and he said no. He said he wanted it, and since his birthday is coming, I wondered why not?"

Mitsuko clucked her tongue and called him a cheapskate teasingly, but gave him permission to give the Go board to Hikaru.

Hikaru had lugged the entire Go board up the stairs and into his room himself after Heihachi had sent him back home that night.

Mitsuko stood at the side and offered her son a wet rag to clean the thing with. It had been in a dusty attic after all, and she was a bit particular about cleanliness.

"What made you want that?" Mitsuko asked after a few moments of watching Hikaru clean the board very thoroughly.

Hikaru blinked up at her as if he forgot she was there. "Sai wanted it."

Mitsuko nodded slowly. While she still frequently saw Hikaru talking to himself, or the space next to him, around the house she hadn't thought about the imaginary friend in awhile. "Are you interested in Go then, Hikaru?"

Hikaru looked back down. "I'm not sure, mum. I still like soccer more though."

Mitsuko laughed and ruffled his hair. "Of course you do. Your birthday is in two days, so I'm thinking of getting you a soccer ball of your own, do you think you'd like that?"

Hikaru had squeaked out an adorable, "Yes!"

Mitsuko left the room feeling smug. Heihachi thought he'd gotten away with not having to spend a cent with giving the child an antique, but even the antique could be sold for maybe a few thousand yen. A soccer ball would at most cost her a few hundred. Normally, she wouldn't be particular, but her father-in-law brought out the mischievous streak in her.

* * *

Hikaru still had his imaginary friend with him when he was nine and attending his middle year of elementary school. Mitsuko was getting worried about him and wanted to get his mind checked, but Masao, her husband, had assured her that everything was fine.

"It's okay, Mitsuko. Heard that even young adults have imaginary friends sometimes, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Masao had commented quite flippantly when Hikaru had pulled out an extra chair for 'Sai' during dinner, as he had been doing since a month after Mitsuko found out about Sai's existence. Mitsuko had opened her mouth to do _something_ about it, when her husband spoke up again. "Besides, it's not like it's hurting him. Kids will be kids, let him be, Mitsuko. "

"Dad, Sai is a he and he's not imaginary!" Hikaru complained as he dug into his food.

Like the good wife she was, Mitsuko decided to keep silent and let it be.

* * *

That was until Hikaru woke up crying one day, a month or so later.

"What happened, dear?" Mitsuko asked, alarmed when she saw him come down the stairs with a tear streaked face. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"M-m-mum, Sai's g-gone! Gone!" Hikaru wailed between hiccups. "W-where is he, mum? I want h-him back!"

Mitsuko fluttered around like a worried hen, having no idea what to do in this situation. The books she read gave her no directory when something like that happens.

Along the years, Mitsuko had gathered that 'Sai' was a Go tutor 'ghost' from the past. But that was it. She had never seen proof that Hikaru had actually been possessed by a 'ghost', or anything supernatural. Other than Hikaru suddenly having a passing interest in the arts, like his brief calligraphy phase when he was young, nothing was suspicious about his imaginary friend. It should have been a huge shock to Hikaru when he woke up and realised that 'Sai' wasn't real, and he never was.

"Hikaru, dear," a sigh passed through her lips, feeling quite helpless as Hikaru ran into her arms, loud, huge sobs wracking through his small body.

Mitsuko was filled with regret. Perhaps she shouldn't have encouraged her child's imagination so much..

... But _thankfully_ Hikaru was back to normal the next day.

"Wow, you're cheerful today Hikaru," Mitsuko heard Akari, their neighbour and Hikaru's best friend since childhood, say as she met Hikaru outside the Shindo household's gate.

Mitsuko was just glad Hikaru was happy again, as she ruffled his black hair and bid him goodbye.

"Yep!" Hikaru said loudly, arms behind his head and walking with his eyes squinting at the sky as they headed off to school. "Remember I told you about Sai, Akari?"

Mitsuko, who had been standing at the lawn, froze and wondered if Hikaru was going to cry again. That was, until she heard what Hikaru said next.

"I saw him in my dreams yesterday night. He promised me that he'll never leave me and he'll be there every night. Sai never lies so..." The children turned around the bend and Mitsuko could no longer hear her son's words.

Will he really be there, in Hikaru's dreams, tonight? Mitsuko sighed and turned away, heading back into the house. She found herself standing in Hikaru's room moments later, looking around the various soccer paraphernalia, and zoomed her gaze onto an antique Go board, barely covered by a flimsy piece of cloth protecting it from dust in the corner beside the bookshelf filled with manga. She noticed there were some classical Japanese literature books tucked in a small corner of the bookshelf and tried to recall when she ever saw her son buy or read them as they were much too difficult for a child to read or understand without guidance, but she came up with nothing. The books seemed very new, so she thought that perhaps Hikaru hadn't started reading them yet?

Kneeling down, Mitsuko brushed away the cloth covering the antique Go board and ran her fingers over the smooth wooden surface. There was no hint of dust anywhere on it, not even in the intricately carved grooves of the board's legs. She couldn't recall ever seeing Hikaru dust the thing- only once when he first brought it back from his grandparents' house.

"Sai wanted this, huh?" Mitsuko said to herself as she examined the Go board. She couldn't think of a reason why Hikaru would have thought up an imaginary friend like Sai. She thought she might have an easier time thinking of one if Sai had been a soccer or baseball or some other sports playing ghost, but no, Sai had to be, of all things, a Go ghost. She remembered Heihachi used to play Go when he was younger, and most probably still did. Maybe it was from his grandpa that Hikaru's subconscious interest in Go manifested itself?

"Don't disappoint Hikaru, Sai," she murmured as she covered the board back up and left the room, thoughts still on her son's imaginary friend. She just hoped that her darling son would grow up to be happy and shine his brightest in the future.


	2. Chapter I

**Midnight Memories**

**Chapter I**

As long as Hikaru remembered, Sai has always been a part of him.

He had been quite certain that Sai had been his mother (or father, once he got the gender thing down), but he learnt from the spirit that no, Sai wasn't his parent, and Sai wasn't _actually _a person in the first place. Hikaru had not known that before, pointing him out to his real mother, Mitsuko, and real father, Masao, (not that he knew their names at that point of time of course) but his real parents have never understood what he was trying to say. Hikaru had been little more than a baby or a toddler at the time, so perhaps when he pointed at Sai and blabbered something, his real parents thought that he was pointing at a tree, or the sky, or the person standing behind Sai, and smiled indulgently at him.

It wasn't until Hikaru was five that Sai explained to him that no one else but Hikaru could see him, because he is a ghost. Then Sai had told little Hikaru the story of his life- in very simple terms of course. As Hikaru grew up and became more aware, he started pestering Sai for stories from his own past, and retelling of Sai's. There was never a day where Sai failed to deliver a bedtime story wrapped in perfect prose.

One of little Hikaru's favourite stories was that of how Sai came to meet him. Apparently, his parents had been overseas- for what Sai didn't know- and had given the responsibility of caring for baby Hikaru to his grandpa. Hikaru was a curious child even back then, and he had just learnt to crawl. His grandpa had put Hikaru on a play mat with a few toys in the room next to the attic which had been converted into a nursery, before leaving to play a Go game with his visiting neighbour. Somehow, Hikaru had managed to crawl all the way to the storeroom at the other end of the hall, probably bored after five minutes of gnawing on the rubber toys.

Sai had been trapped haunting the antique Goban for years, but he was free to move around in a radius around it. Unable to leave the room, but able to stick his head out from the door to look at the hallway outside the storeroom, he had done so when he heard activity outside. Sai had watched as Hikaru's grandpa deposited the child into the nursery before climbing back down the stairs. Sai had also watched as the child crawled out the nursery and toward the him. Later, Sai had told Hikaru that he was incredulous that someone would leave a child that young unsupervised as even in his time, children that young always had someone responsible watch over them. Sai also told Hikaru that he had no idea what Hikaru's grandpa was doing, not locking the storeroom door or the nursery door, as Hikaru could very easily take a tumble down the stairs and surprise the two men in the living room.

Sai, who had been staring at the dusty storeroom in the attic or the hallway outside it for years, welcomed the change in scenery as his eyes followed Hikaru. Hikaru had headbutted the door to the storeroom to force it open as the toddler crawled on. Sai confessed that he almost had a heart attack then.

"You were a very forceful child back then," Sai told seven year old Hikaru, who was in bed and looking at Sai in wonder.

"Awesome," Hikaru grinned, giving Sai a thumbs up.

Baby Hikaru, barely one years in age, had gabbled something, staring straight at Sai, who stared right back.

"I was excited," explained Sai to Hikaru, "you seemed like you could _see_ me."

Sai stepped -or rather, floated- aside as Hikaru crawled in his direction. Hikaru stopped in front of the haunted Goban, which stood proudly uncovered a distance to the right from the storeroom door. To Sai's surprise, Hikaru used all his might and struggled to his feet, with the help of the Goban. Hikaru then hit the Goban with his little fists a few times in a sweeping motion, right at the bloodstain, then turned around to look at Sai, who was looking at the child with surprise on his face. "Gahblah," Hikaru said, waving his hands, which were covered in the dust that occupied the Goban's surface a few seconds ago.

Then baby Hikaru got back on his knees, then onto his side, and fell asleep (Sai hoped very much that it was sleep and not death) at the base of the Goban. Sai had hurried forward, certain that wasn't normal behavior for offspring even in this day and age, crouched down and _touched_ the boy.

Drawing back in shock, as Sai had tried time and again to touch the elderly Shindo without being able to, Sai had remained in a kneeling position, reminiscent of his seiza posture back when he was still could play Go, staring at Hikaru until the elderly Shindo came back up to check on Hikaru.

When Hikaru's grandpa saw the storeroom's door ajar, he immediately went to investigate and discovered Hikaru deep asleep on the floor. He picked the child up and left the room. Sai, who had the strangest feeling he could, followed the pair out of the room and back into the nursery.

"I knew then and there," Sai told Hikaru in the future, "that everything changed. I'm no longer bound to Torajiro's Goban. Instead, I was bound to you, just when you were merely 13 months old."

"Awesome," echoed Hikaru again.

Both Hikaru and Sai enjoyed the days as Hikaru grew up. Hikaru turned out to be a very cheerful boy, as everyone who met him has a tendency to say. He was outgoing too, being awfully good at making friends even in kindergarten, and he loved sports, especially soccer. He looked up to Sai as a teacher, or even a father, in his toddler days. Sai taught him everything he could, from calligraphy to proper manners, from the moment Hikaru could talk. Even Go, but _that_ story can come later.

Hikaru's first word was 'food', to Sai's amusement, since even as a baby Hikaru had quite an apetitite. It was a pity it wasn't his name though, which Sai had been secretly hoping for, with the time he spent with the child, which was even more than both his real parents combined.

'Sai' had come later, after 'Ma' and 'Pa'. For a short while, Hikaru had been addressing Sai as 'Pa', to his delight, but Sai eventually had to correct him as Hikaru's real mother had started getting annoyed at Hikaru's random calls of 'Pa!' in an empty room.

* * *

With the time Sai spent with the child, it wasn't a surprise that Hikaru improved in spoken Japanese at an exponential rate, much faster than the other children. At four years old, Hikaru could carry on a conversation with the teachers at his kindergarten and sound very intelligent indeed.

Hikaru's mother was informed a year later, and she was delighted that the teachers thought her child a prodigy. The teachers had encouraged Hikaru's real mother to send him to classes to learn a skill or two, like music or art, and she had obliged.

Almost teasingly, she had asked Hikaru if he had any input on what he wanted to learn.

In the future, Sai had told Hikaru that he was pleasantly surprised with Hikaru's answer.

"Art," Hikaru said shyly, "or how to play the biwa."

"The biwa?" Hikaru's mother had blinked, surprised. "Do you even know what a biwa is?"

Hikaru nodded vigorously.

Hikaru's mother had been accepting of that tidbit of information, if a bit in disbelief of that claim (what five year child nowadays knew about ancient musical instruments without an adult first providing information? Hikaru hadn't even showed an interest in music before!), but had not seen the merit in letting a boy play an ancient musical instrument, and had instead decided to send him for art lessons.

Hikaru was quite disappointed with that, but Sai had offered to teach him how to play the biwa once he got older, so Hikaru attended art lessons, and didn't like them very much. He thought that the teacher was too mean in demanding her students only draw cartoon characters. Hikaru told his mother that he didn't want to attend art lessons anymore after a month, as he wanted to draw _real things_, not cartoons, so his mother stopped sending him for art lessons on Sundays. Instead, Hikaru requested to visit the library, and Sai would pick out books for him and read with him while Hikaru's birth mother would go to a nearby salon and fix her hair, or do something else for a few hours until it was time to leave. Sometimes, Hikaru would ask to borrow a book or two to read, and his mother would allow it.

It was good that his mother wasn't that interested in what Hikaru was reading, because she would be shocked by the type of books Sai made Hikaru read- classical literature of all things! Those books were filled to the brim with _kanji_, characters that one usually would not know how to pronounce without consulting a dictionary first with hiragana explanations, but those were the books that Sai knew how to read better than the more modern ones.

This way, Hikaru's reading skills improved quite a bit as well. And when he was five, Sai decided to start on teaching him to write. Sai disliked the modern world's tendency to write with a pen or pencil, saying that the tools were crude and that a brush was more graceful. So Hikaru was tasked to acquire a brush, any kind of brush, so that Sai could teach him calligraphy techniques. It was this year when Hikaru's mother found out about Sai, only that she thought that Sai was Hikaru's imaginary friend, a creation of credited to Hikaru's very active imagination and extreme intelligence.

And not to forget that Sai lived, and died, and lived again for Go. It was his obsession with Go that brought him back as a ghost. Sai tried to teach Hikaru Go from the moment baby Hikaru opened his eyes from the nap he took after bashing small fists at Torajiro's Goban. Hikaru had stared at Sai with (what he thought as) strangely focused eyes as Sai prattled on about Go, Go techniques and how much he loved Go. Without a Go board, there was nothing much Sai could do except prattle on about Go techniques and different hands. Hikaru never remembered any of it.

It only really started when Hikaru was five, and Sai couldn't hold in the urge to do _something_ related to Go in anymore. The years before he acted as Hikaru's tutor, almost like a parent, and he hoped very hard that Hikaru would show interest in the game.. or understand what he was saying this time.

Therefore Sai tasked Hikaru with getting a Goban, and suggested that Hikaru requested Torajiro's old one from his grandpa.

When Hikaru acquired Torajiro's Goban, it looked so much bigger than him and Sai fretted over the child as the Goban wasn't only big, it was also heavy. But Hikaru, with all his determination, managed to get it from his grandpa's car all the way up to his own room.

Sai started to teach Hikaru Go after dinner that day, but Hikaru hadn't really been interested or trying very hard. Sure, Hikaru had still tried, it was _Sai_ instructing him after all, the Sai that was almost his parent, and his closest and _bestest_ friend, even closer than Akari, his _best friend _from next door. However Sai could still tell Hikaru wasn't really interested in the game, and had only been trying to understand it because it was him teaching the child. If Sai had been someone else -Hikaru's grandpa perhaps- Hikaru would have given up and thrown a tantrum long ago.

Sai longed to see the smile soccer brought to Hikaru's face whenever he plays it, similarly on his face whenever he plays Go too, so he never gave up. He also hoped that he could eventually play Go with someone other than Hikaru, but it was hard asking a child not yet in elementary school to find opponents who played Go, so he continued being patient. What was five more years to a ghost who had already waited a thousand?

Sai could see the Go potential in the child though, if only Hikaru would take it more seriously! It was often a topic he brought up with Hikaru, but Hikaru always assured Sai that he _was_ trying his best. Sai could tell Hikaru wasn't, and was still just playing Go just to appease him, even after Hikaru got into elementary school.

Sai noticed that Hikaru's Go playing style was very similar to his own- move by move, Hikaru was _memorising_ his hands and playing them against him- and he started getting worried, not to mention a little disconcerted. He didn't wish to stunt the child's growth by making him think that the only Go was Sai's sort of Go, so he suggested Hikaru start finding new opponents to play with. Hikaru was then nine, and in Sai's opinion, old enough to start playing Go seriously.

He didn't anticipate Hikaru suddenly rebelling and becoming adamant on _not_ finding anyone else to play with though.

"I've already got you to play with, why do I need to find other opponents?" Hikaru asked as he dribbled a ball, training a new sort of footwork in the field not too far from the school.

"Don't you want to improve? You can improve more by playing a variety of people, not just me." Sai answered as he floated next to the boy, staring in awe at Hikaru's feet which looked like they could tangle themselves with each other any moment.

"Nah," Hikaru said flippantly, "it's too troublesome. Can't I improve just by playing you?"

"You shouldn't," Sai said seriously, before a change came over his features and he started tearing up, "and I _really really really really really_ want to play with other people, can I, Hikaruuuuuu?"

"No, it's an old man's game. Nobody except grandpa and you play it, and you're both _old,_" Hikaru said with an air of finality, "I want to play soccer now Sai, can we leave go for tonight? I'll play with you."

Even when Sai begged and wailed and cried and whined, like a child, Hikaru was immovable in his decision. That night, they played Go against each other again.

Before, when Hikaru just started learning Go, Sai had just given him Go problems to practice with. To Sai's delight, Hikaru had picked up the basics and problem solving skills of Go extremely fast, and he had an aptitude in being able to recreate games from scratch without hints. Sai's joy was short-lived when all the problems in his plan cropped up, and he found himself getting sadder and sadder day after day after Hikaru's rejection.

Hikaru must be going through some sort of rebellious phase, as that month he spent more and more time with his friends, and deliberately ignored Sai during the day. At night though, Hikaru returned back to his old self when faced with Go- forced interest, and indifference with his own mistakes. The carefully cultivated respect Hikaru had for Sai when he was younger seemed to have disappeared entirely. During that month, Hikaru had no longer practiced his calligraphy, nor read a single book. He spent school hours passing notes to his friends instead of either listening attentively in class or talking to Sai mentally like he used to do.

Then one day, after a soccer game that lasted longer than usual, Hikaru announced that he didn't want to play Go that night as he was too tired, and turned his back to Sai deliberately when he climbed into bed, regardless of Sai's pleas or his tears.

Something happened then, Sai wasn't sure what it was. He felt something come over him, and he fell over onto all fours. Then he saw it. His hands were getting transparent- well, more transparent than usual, and he felt like he was fading. Sai's mouth opened in a silent scream as he frantically reached for Hikaru.

"H-hikaru!" Sai shouted- or he felt like he shouted- but nothing but a whisper came out from his mouth. His voice seemed to have disappeared.

_'What's happening? Am I fading? Am I going to die permenantly now? No.. God, I still want to play Go! Please don't do this, please!'_

_'Hikaru is asleep'_, Sai thought, as he heard soft, even breaths from the bed. '_I never even had a chance to say goodbye..'_

_'__I still want to watch over Hikaru, and I still want to play Go. I don't know what went wrong please God-"_

But it was too late as Sai faded completely.

And the peace of the next morning was shattered by Hikaru's wail.


	3. Chapter II

Dedicated to the memory of Singapore's first PM, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

* * *

**Midnight Memories**

**Chapter Two**

* * *

Hikaru could not remember a time when Sai had not been present in his life.

Hikaru used to think that Sai was his mother, actually. Later, he thought that Sai was his father, when he understood that Sai was male and mothers were female. But his mother, and Sai, had eventually convinced Hikaru that the grumpy man who appeared once in awhile at the dining table reading a magazine or the paper was his real father.

Hikaru maintained in his heart that Sai would always be his parent though.

It was probably because of that mentality that Hikaru tried his very best to please Sai. When Sai taught him anything, he took to it like a starving wolf finding easy prey. He wanted to do whatever Sai liked to do. He wanted to know what Sai thought of him. He wanted to know Sai like no one else knew before.

As Hikaru grew older, his goals started drifting. No longer would he do just as Sai says. Hikaru developed a liking for soccer, and his soccer friends had not had good impressions of the game that Sai had wanted to teach him. They called Go an old man's game, and told Hikaru they would think him a freak if he liked Go.

Hikaru had eventually succumbed to peer pressure and pretended he _didn't_ like Go, in front of his friends. The attitude carried over, and somehow Sai could tell that he was no longer interested in Go like before, when Hikaru was young. Hikaru still listened to Sai, yes, but Hikaru treated Sai like an insufferable parent, obligingly doing everything Sai requested, like the Go games every night, but never putting in hundred percent effort in either thinking or feeling the game.

If Sai had stayed a little while longer, Hikaru was certain he would have deteriorated even further in his insensitivity.

But Sai disappeared, all of a sudden, the day after Hikaru decided that he no longer wanted to entertain the ghost with Go, and refused to ever let him play Go with anyone, even skipping their ritual nightly games.

"Sai?" Hikaru called when he woke up the day after, seeing no sign of the ghost who would usually give him a hug when he wakes up in the mornings.

Hikaru had waited a few moments before getting out of bed and searching around the room for clues of the ghost's disappearance, as if the pages between his books or the space behind his soccer posters hid the answers. Every moment of the continued silence increased the mounting panic he felt. "Sai, where are you? This isn't funny!"

When Hikaru finally spotted the faded bloodstain on the antique Goban , definitely less vibrant than usual, the pit in his stomach which had steadily been growing bloomed into an extremely rude awakening. First overcome by panic, then anger, then devastating depression, Hikaru had felt the effects of Sai's disappearance with every fiber of his being. The sudden loneliness, a far cry from how Sai had been with him every time everywhere in the past, and the sudden silence, whereas before Sai would have filled Hikaru's ears with chatter, and the crushing guilt from their altercation last night led Hikaru into tears. He rushed down to the nearest Sai replacement- his real mother- tears cascading down his cheeks as he wailed his heart out.

Talking to his mother, hiccuping in between syllables, was not of much use. His mother still had the impression that Sai was Hikaru's imaginary friend, so Hikaru thought she was trivializing the matter, and ought to give actual suggestions on how to get Sai back rather than just _hugging_ him and telling him everything would be alright.

Does his mother not _understand_ that everything will _not be alright if Sai doesn't return?_

Hikaru then tried talking to Akari, his best friend since young, and asked her for ideas on how to get Sai back. From young, Hikaru did not have the habit of talking about Sai much to others, only replying with answers very specifically attuned to the asked questions when people like his mother asked specific questions about Sai. Not even Akari knew much about Sai.

But that day, when Hikaru was still reeling from the shock over Sai's disappearance, Hikaru told Akari the truth. That he didn't have an imaginary friend named Sai, Sai had existed and he had been a ghost that inhabited an antique Goban in Hikaru's grandpa's attic and had then 'haunted' Hikaru instead. That Sai had been the one who taught him everything and how Hikaru had wanted to be like Sai, just that he didn't like Go nor did he really understand the logic behind the game..

When Hikaru was done, he stared a little fearfully at Akari, fearing that Akari would think he was stupid or crazy and tell him as such. Fortunately, being the sensible girl she was, Akari offered some theories of her own of the reasons behind the ghost's disappeance.

The one thing Akari suggested that sounded the most probable would be that Sai had left because he was unable to play Go anymore.

"You said Sai asked for a second chance to play Go, and he came back like that right? You stopped him from playing Go with others, but I think he disappeared because you didn't want to play with him either," mused Akari.

Hikaru felt like he was just punched in the gut. "So it's my fault he disappeared, isn't it?"

"Uh huh," Akari said after an uncomfortable pause, eyeing her friend with concern, hoping he didn't start cry again.

'I must get him back!' Hikaru thought to himself in determination as he thanked Akari for her thoughts and rushed back next door, bounding up the stairs three to go back into his room.

That day Hikaru spent eyes closed meditatively before Sai's Goban, playing against himself. He gave himself no time limit per move, thinking about how Sai would react to each hand of black and of white, and placing each stone accordingly. Hikaru very much wanted to see Sai again, and in his Go, he thought he could see Sai in both the black and the white stones. When his soccer friends called him up to play at the nearby field, Hikaru declined not very politely and ignored their house call, keeping the door locked and pretending he wasn't home.

Hikaru's parents gave him strange looks at that, one more understanding than the other, but let him be.

Hikaru was determined to never forget what Sai had taught him, so after lunch, he went back to his mimicking Sai's Go practice, and taking a break after a few hours and started a literature classic that Sai had very much enjoyed reading. Hikaru had never quite finished that book as the middle portion had been very slow paced and written in archaic Japanese kanji, and the energetic 9 year old never had the patience and determination to finish it before.

Hikaru plowed through the pages of the book like a man possessed, and as he turned the final page, he understood why Sai liked it so much.

It was a story of a court noble, with a tongue as sharp as razor knives and as slick as a serpent, who uncovered plans by another noble to usurp the throne and tried to foil them, but he failed and was exiled from the land under the authority of the new Emperor. He returned years later, and, by using clever political maneuvers and schemes, the exiled noble overthrew the new Emperor, and returned the land back to the rightful heir, the Crown Prince.

The story was embroiled in a large amount of court drama and political strife. Hikaru inferred that Sai had liked it because the descriptions of the court was so accurate it reminded Sai of his past, the one he had left behind when he committed suicide.

Hikaru felt like hitting himself in regret of his actions as he was lost in reflections again during dinner, but refrained from doing so lest his parents think he wasn't all there in the head.

After dinner, Hikaru's Go games against himself continued. He started out with Sai's favourite opening moves, continued with Sai's favourite hand, impeding himself with Sai's favourite counters, and tried to read the board like how Sai said he did so. He was never very good once the game reached _yose_ (the endgame) though, as he never really managed to bring Sai to yose. When it got to the after game discussion, Hikaru was stumped as he didn't actually _know_ the logic behind some moves, just that Sai did it and taught him to do it.

Hikaru was reminded of how little he actually knew about Go, and the reminder was both refreshing and painful.

As Hikaru started falling asleep that night, he thought of how nice it would be if Sai could still teach him more about Go. Hikaru promised to be attentive…

* * *

Hikaru woke to a dull droning in his ear.

Blearily, he blinked, squinted, and sat up, only to immediately have his eyes fly open wide.

Hikaru vaguely noted that he was in the courtyard of some palace that seemed to come from the past. _'The past.._ _Sai!_' and all thoughts of admiring the beautiful architecture disappeared as he got up onto his feet and dashed to the nearest sliding door, opening it roughly, expectantly.

The person in the room, who was sitting in a _seiza_ position in front of a Goban, looked up and spotted the nine year old in the doorway, who was holding his breath, anticipating..

White traditional Japanese clothes, long, seemingly black hair that Hikaru knew was actually purple when its true color shows in the sun, strange black hat that resulted in Hikaru never actually seeing his forehead..

"Sai!" Hikaru shrieked, like a girl but he didn't care, and threw himself into the arms of the person, who accepted his embrace with open arms and a small smile on his face.

"I really missed you," Hikaru sobbed,as he grabbed bunches of Sai's pristine white robes in his fists. "Why did you leave me?"

The person- was it really Sai?- was silent for a short while, which felt like eternity to Hikaru. "I am sorry, Hikaru," Sai finally said sadly, "I missed you too."

And it was really Sai.

After a pause, Sai explained what happened last night, when he faded. "I found myself here,no longer trapped in Torajiro's Goban, but I can't go anywhere either. I only have this Goban for company. I'm sorry for leaving you."

They sat in silence for a time, each of them enjoying the other's company, before Sai asked, "What are you doing now, Hikaru? I thought I faded from your life completely."

"I'm dreaming now," Hikaru answered, eyes closed and nestled up against Sai like a baby kitten cuddling his mother, "I went to sleep and now I'm here."

Sai smiled then, a small, sad smile that seemed out of place on his face. Hikaru was used to Sai being childish and crying exaggerated tears. The presence of this Sai seemed to intensify the depression that Hikaru felt. "I'm glad I can still see you in your dreams then," Sai offered with that strange, strange smile.

"Can you come back?" Hikaru hadn't needed to ask a more specific question. Sai would know that Hikaru meant whether or not Sai could come back as a ghost to haunt him.

"I do not think so. Once some things are lost, they cannot be regained," Sai said forlornly. "Kami-sama did not bring me back to life to grant my wish. I've lost my life and can never regain it. I think I've lost my chance to achieve my dream as a ghost," _because of me_, Hikaru thought in his mind, wincing, "and I can only be here, in your dreams now."

"Will I see you tomorrow too?" Hikaru asked, his voice quiet, so unlike himself as well.

Sai's smile never left his face. "Of course. I'm always here for you."

As if detecting Hikaru's mood and eager to distract him from it, Sai's expression morphed into something more familiar, reaching out toward the stone bowls containing Go stones on his Goban. "I wanna play Go, play with me Go, Hikaruuu?" Sai even inserted the whine that Hikaru missed so much.

Making a small noise of acknowledgement after, Hikaru untangled himself from the embrace that Sai held him in. "In that case," Hikaru said, shoving his sadness back and grasped the offered stone bowl too, "please!"

* * *

They played until Hikaru started to fade, entirely too fast. Hikaru looked at his increasingly transparent hands, then at the unfinished Go game on the table, before staring pleadingly at Sai, who looked exactly as Hikaru felt.

"I will see you tomorrow, Hikaru!" Sai called out as Hikaru faded completely.

* * *

Hikaru stared at the ceiling of his room as he recalled the events of last night.

Sai had taught him Go as usual, and Hikaru had showed him the unfinished games he played against himself the day before, replaying it step by step, asking for Sai's input in discussion. Sai had stared at the board very thoughtfully as he considered the moves that Hikaru used.

"I have always noticed you use my moves entirely too much, Hikaru," Sai had said, frowning, "as you can see here," he pointed with the closed end of his fan, "my favourite hand where I put my stone at 3-6 in retaliation to white's sudden movement, is not the best place to put black's stone in this scenerio. If you are playing against me, you should have put it at 3-7 in order to cut off white."

"But if you were white, wouldn't you have put your next stone here," Hikaru had asked, pointing at the spot, "and rendering 3-7 useless?"

"3-6 turned out useless anyway," Sai had pointed out dryly, "24 hands later, white could have cut off the advantage the hand provided, had you put white at 5-2. If you put black at 3-7 instead, the cluster of stones here," Sai pointed out the cluster, a ways from the Hikaru's pointed spot with his fan, "would have been able to come back to life in another 10 hands if you put black at 4-5 then."

Hikaru did understand what Sai was getting at, and had nodded slowly. He listened attentively to Sai as he explained various things that he would could have done better. To Hikaru's surprise, he understood everything Sai suggested to him, together with the logic behind certain moves, now that he put _some_ effort into it. Hikaru told Sai as such, and the ghost- now a dream- sighed.

"You've always had talent, you just didn't have the drive nor the interest in the game," Sai explained, "and even now, you're not truly interested.."

"I am!" Hikaru had gasped, "I am interested!"

Sai had shaken his head, pressing his ever-present fan to his lips. "You're not. Perhaps you'll eventually learn to love playing the game, and have fun, which is the most important thing. But I doubt you'll ever be able to achieve your full potential, as that requires something even more than love for the game."

"What's missing?" Hikaru had asked, curious and indignant at the same time, determined to prove the man wrong that he _could_ reach the full potential that Sai had said he had.

"Drive." Was the answer. "To rise up and reach even higher." Even when you're the best, Sai had said, you've still got to get better.

Back in his room, Hikaru echoed what Sai told him. "In order to reach my full potential, I need to have the drive to be the best." Interest and talent isn't going to cut it.

And: "What is the Hand of God, anyway?" Hikaru had asked. _K__ami no itte_, the Divine Move that Sai had been living for.

The answer was "The perfect move, in a perfect game of Go between rivals of equal skill and intricate knowledge of each other's playstyle." Then Sai's expression had turned wry. "I doubt I'd be able to attain it now, as my only opponent is you, if I can only appear in your dreams, unless you get better somehow and can eventually give me a challenge."

"Oi!" Hikaru had protested. "Am I that bad?"

"Now? Yes, you're like the Emperor's second son whom I taught long ago. He was much better at swordplay than Go, but even then he lost at swordplay to the rest of his sparring companions, one of which is a wooden pole."

Hikaru had stared in disbelief at Sai, who had hid his amused smile behind his half open fan. That was probably the meanest thing that Sai had ever said about him, ranked first, before the runner-up which was when Sai had told him when he was five that his handwriting was like the Emperor's third daughter's pet goose's. Until now, Hikaru had not decided whether to believe if the Emperor's eldest daughter _really _had a pet goose who was trained to write.

"Oh sure, be that way," Hikaru retorted after a moment. "I won't play Go with you anymore then."

That made Sai's face morph into an expression of horror. "You're not serious, are you?"

At Hikaru's unrepentant stare, Sai wailed. "I'm sorry Hikaruuuu! I wanna play Go I wanna play Go I wanna play Go-"

Hikaru had cracked a smirk then. "Of course I'll still play with you Go."

Sai had cheered, before giving Hikaru advice. "You can only improve in Go if you play with other people," Sai repeated his words from before. "You are young, you have the potential to be my rival. I started Go at your age. Now, I'm twenty five-"

"Add a thousand," had muttered Hikaru, "old man."

"-and I am one of the best players of my time." Sai had ignored Hikaru, used to Hikaru's sarcastic comments as part of being a child. "I don't know how I compare in your time. You've not let me play with anyone else." Hikaru tried not to wince at the guilt that assaulted him at this statement.

"Sorry," Hikaru had whispered, head hanging dejectedly. Then, he had perked up and declared that he _would_ get better, that he would become the best Go player of his time, and challenge Sai into a battle of epic proportions, enabling Sai to reach the Hand of God he so dearly wished to.

"I'm sure," Sai had said in the tone that Hikaru hated so much, smile hidden behind his fan as usual.

It was the tone that parents used when they believed that they were just humoring the child. Hikaru's mother had used it a lot on him during his childhood. One of the more memorable moments was when he was six, and his mother had seen him reading a book, one without pictures that would normally be read by ten year olds.

"Can you understand that?" His mother had asked.

"Yes," Hikaru had replied.

"I'm sure you can, keep it up."

In the present, Hikaru's eyebrow twitched in irritation as he remembered. He'll _show _Sai he could do it!

Today was a Monday though, therefore Hikaru couldn't lie in bed any longer when his mother came to check on his progress of waking up. Usually, Hikaru would set his alarm clock the night before, but he had a very bad habit of turning it to snooze, and falling back asleep, regardless of Sai's attempts to wake the boy, ending up late for every school morning had his mother not started waking Hikaru up once it became clear that Hikaru was not going to wake up on his own.

Hikaru had been awake for once when his mother came into his room, startling her with a greeting of 'good morning'. He leapt to his feet and went to get ready for school.

"Thanks for the bento, mum!" Hikaru called as he grabbed the packet that his mother prepared for him, stuffed it in his bag and dashed out of the house, closely followed by his mother, who usually sent Hikaru and Akari off at the lawn gates.

"Wow, you're cheerful today Hikaru," Akari said once she spotted him with a contented grin on his face, which turned into slight annoyance when his mother ruffled his hair and bade both Hikaru and Akari farewell.

"Yep!" Hikaru said animatedly. "Remember I told you about Sai, Akari?"

The girl nodded. How could she forget something that made her best friend, normally so bright that she bet his life consisted of playing soccer on rainbow clouds, cry?

"I saw him in my dreams yesterday night. He promised me that he'll never leave me and he'll be there every night. Sai never lies so I really think he'll be there tonight too!"

"That's great, Hikaru!" Akari exclaimed. "I'm glad you're happy again."

"I need your help though," Hikaru said, turning to Akari. "I need to find opponents to play Go with. Sai told me I can only improve in my game if I play with other people. Where can I find people who play Go?"

Akari blinked owlishly at Hikaru. "I don't know? Ask around, maybe?"

Hikaru gaped at her. "How are you so good at this? That's a great idea! Thanks for suggesting it. Help me ask around okay? It's really really urgent." Looking down at his wrist, Hikaru glanced at an imaginary watch and gasped. "Oh my! Look at the time! We're going to be late if we don't hurry." With that, Hikaru dashed off, cackling.

Now it was Akari's turn to gape. "H-hikaru you idiot!" Akari screeched as she ran to catch up to him, but Hikaru was way more athletic than she was, so she was eventually left in the dust as Hikaru turned the corner a street away from their school.

"That idiot has peas for brains if he thinks I'm going to help him with anything," Akari growled, stomping the rest of the way.


	4. Chapter III

This chapter was very very very difficult to write.. I tried my best. :( Also I realised I mixed up "middle school" with "elementary school" and "high school." Schooling in my country doesn't follow grade education, so I apologise for the mix ups.

* * *

**Midnight Memories **

**Chapter 4: Go! **

* * *

**Tuesday Morning**

"You know what? I hate you," Akari groused as she met Hikaru outside his house gates, "so much. But I did some research for you anyway."

"Aww thanks Akari-chaaaan~" Hikaru sang as he skipped out the gates after bidding his mother goodbye. "So, what have you found out?"

Akari took a deep breath, as if calming herself, before opening her mouth to speak, all the while giving Hikaru a death glare. "I swear if you do this to me again, we won't be friends anymore. At least show some appreciation for the things I do for you– Hikaru are you even_listening to me?_" Akari screeched as Hikaru stopped at a lampost to examine a poster on it.

"Hey look, Akari, Japanese Cultural Festival's in two months. And my birthday's in a few weeks. Are you getting me anything?" Then, as if detecting something wrong, Hikaru spun around, and upon meeting Akari's angry visage, chuckled in embarassment. "Hahaha so what were you saying?"

"Argh! Hikaru!"

"Sorry, sorry! The poster just drew me in, and you know I can't multitask!"

"Okay then, you can go look at your poster, and I'll just head to school!"

"Sorry Akari," Hikaru whined, "I'm listening! What have you found out?"

Akari turned her face skywards as if asking for more patience from a higher power. "I heard there are Go salons, which are places where people gather and play Go in, something like a club house, or computer café.. You know, those cafés that people go to use the computers at?" At Hikaru's nod as confirmation that he was listening, she continued," and there's also Go classes being taught by a pro nearby, but it's only on Fridays. I heard there are free trial lessons for new attendees. I think you should go for those."

"Go lessons? But I already know how to play Go.." Hikaru mused. Free Go lessons from someone other than Sai sounded interesting though, not to mention maybe he could play with someone there. "Let's go then."

Akari stared. "'Let's'?" She parroted, "what 'let's'? Since when am I coming with you? I'm not interested in learning Go."

"Okay then, I'll just go all alone, all alooone," Hikaru said, stressing the words, "all alo-"

"_Fine_!" Akari huffed in exasperation, "I'll come with you just because I don't have anything to do on Friday." Then she smirked and added: "You probably really need the lessons anyway, you suck at Go."

"I don't!" Hikaru protested.

"Then explain to me why you told me you have never won a game?"

"That's against Sai!" Hikaru groaned, "it's __impossible __to win against him."

"Excuses, Hikaru! Just admit you suck."

"I don't suck," Hikaru insisted.

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not- oh wait, I know what's coming after this, I'm not falling for it again! See you in school Akari! Thanks for agreeing to go find a Go salon after school too." With that, Hikaru dashed off the remaining distance towards the school, leaving Akari in the dust again.

Akari couldn't even bother to yell after her childhood friend and walked the rest of the distance muttering unflattering things about him under her breath.

* * *

**Tuesday After School**

"Hey Shindo!"

Hikaru stopped in his tracks, turning as he heard his name being called, already knowing who it was. Izumo, a soccer buddy of his, caught up with Hikaru, looking quite annoyed.

"What's up, Izumo?" Hikaru asked as he resumed walking towards the school gate, where he was meeting Akari. The last lesson of the day was physical education, and the girls and boys were separated for the class, therefore they had set up the meeting point beforehand.

"What's up with__you__?" Izumo retorted. "You didn't show up for practice yesterday."

Hikaru's mouth formed an 'O'. "Oh right!" He recalled he hadn't told the soccer club captain that he was quitting the team. "I'm quitting the team, I just haven't told Daichi yet."

Izumo's eyes had grown wide at the words 'quitting the team'. "What?!" He yelled, "what are you thinking? You're a great player! Don't you want to be scouted into Shinsei Academy?"

Shinsei Academy offered scholarship into its Junior High School on the basis of sports prowess, and it was affliated to its High School, therefore, if a student managed to get into Shinsei Junior High, it was definite that he'd get into Shinsei High as long as he just passed the end examination. Shinsei Academy was renowned for its sports teams- many of the members of their seeded teams made it to the national levels, and they even produced one or two professional sports players a year. Their soccer team was especially famous. It had been Hikaru's dream once to become a professional soccer player, but with Sai's disappearance, he wasn't very sure anymore.

"I don't know," Hikaru confessed truthfully, "I just have no time for it now, you know? I've got something that I need to do."

Izumo didn't understand what the reason could be. "But just what is it you need to do? What is more important than soccer?"

Hikaru still wasn't comfortable in letting his friends know about the fact that he played Go, and wanted to drop soccer for Go. They'd never understand. "Nothing much," he said evasively, "but I'll still play with you guys once I've settled a schedule." Sai_had _told him to live his life too right? Hikaru was prepared to dedicate his time down to play Go, but he wanted to have some time for himself too, and the teachers were always talking about 't_ime management__'_, weren't they? He was pretty sure he could do that.. He hoped. Hikaru really didn't want to give up soccer fully, as he still felt an urge to play.

Izumo exhaled loudly, shaking his head. "Okay, whatever," he said in a tone that implied he didn't really care. "I'll tell Daichi for you. I think he would want to talk to you about this further though."

"I'll see him tomorrow then, see you." Hikaru bade his soccer buddy goodbye as they rounded across the bend and had the school gates in sight. Akari was standing at a corner, looking upward at the school flag fluttering in the wind. Inwardly, Hikaru winced while preparing for another one of Akari's spiels, noticing the signs of boredom in the girl.

Without waiting for a reply from Izumo, he dashed forward and pretended as though he had run very, very fast from his classroom all the way to the school gates.

"Akari! Sorry for making you wait, the teacher released us late from PE, I came here as fast as I could-" Hikaru immediately started babbling as soon as he was within earshot of the girl.

"Whatever," Akari snapped, "let's just go."

As the pair walked out the school gates together, Hikaru couldn't help but ask, "Did you manage to ask for the location of a Go Salon?"

Akari gave him the evil eye. "Maybe," she said evasively.

Hikaru then gave her a sheepish smile as he asked if they could have lunch first.

Akari looked thoughtful, yet the tiniest pinch of nose told Hikaru he wasn't _all_ forgiven. "I think there is a ramen stall around the place where we're going."

Hikaru perked up. "Ramen!" He cheered. "What are we waiting for, let's go! Walk faster, Akari, you're so slow!" Hikaru started speed-walking straight ahead, but Akari must have felt a tad mischievous as she deliberately slowed down her steps until she was talking a small step every two seconds or so.

Hikaru made a sound of frustration, getting the hint, reluctantly going back to the previous pace at which they were walking. Akari started walking normally again, and directed Hikaru toward a ramen stall located in a row of shop-houses.

"Geez," Hikaru commented, taking in the old decor, "everything's so old in here." He had lowered his voice so only Akari could hear him. It wouldn't do him any good if he got thrown out of the ramen stall after all. Ramen was ramen, no matter where the ramen originated from.

"Hikaru!" Akari scolded in an equally soft tone.

"What are you kids whispering about?" The stall owner, a wizened old man, asked them suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Hikaru yelped and started rattling off his order as he counted out his coins, mentally grumbling about how food is always so expensive, 500 yen for a bowl of ramen is a ripoff.

That was before he saw the Go salon.

Akari and Hikaru stood at the entrance of the place, neither of them wanting to step foot into the Go Salon.

It wasn't because the place looked old, oh no, after seeing the ramen stall Hikaru had been prepared to see a dilapidated old shack posing as the Go Salon, but it was because of the faint wisps of cigarette smoke he could smell originating from its depths that put the two children off.

"That's gross, Hikaru, are you sure you want to go in there?"whispered Akari unhappily.

"I have to, I said I'd play Go and I will!" Hikaru whispered back in determination. He won't disappoint Sai.

Braving the smoke, Hikaru took a deep breath and plunged in, leaving Akari who had disgusted look on her face outside. Turning the corner, Hikaru came upon a dimly lit room with two rows of gobans on top of tables. There was a smattering of elderly playing Go upon the gobans. Hikaru was about to check it out before there was a clearing of throat behind Hikaru, prompting him to turn around.

The person who coughed turned out to be an elderly lady, sitting behind a registration desk, which Hikaru only just noticed. She had placed the magazine she was reading down, gazing at Hikaru with an unimpressed frown.

"Boyo," the elderly lady started in a deadpan voice, "you play Go?" It sounded less like a question than a demand the way she said it.

Hikaru hesitantly nodded. "Um.."

Before he could continue though, the elderly lady interrupted him. "It's 500 yen for children if you want to play here," she recited in a monotone.

"I have to _pay __to play here_?" Hikaru yelped.

"Of course, what did you expect? Play for free?" At Hikaru's silence, the elderly made a 'tsk' sound. "Are you going to pay or not?"

Hikaru was annoyed at the woman. 500 yen to play Go at such a dingy little place filled to the brim with the smell of cigarette smoke wasn't just a rip off, it was daylight robbery. Without answering, Hikaru turned and stomped out the Go salon.

Hikaru could just imagine himself shaking his fist in a comic book villain-esque style at the entrance of the Go Salon while shouting 'I will be back!'.

Akari wasn't at the entrance when Hikaru arrived outside. He saw her through the windowpanes of the opposite store, which looked like a bookstore. The doorbell tinkled as Hikaru opened it to slip through.

"What happened?" Akari asked when she spotted him.

"Attempted daylight robbery," answered Hikaru. "What are you looking at?" He asked as he peered at the books around. It was mostly old literature books, and many of the books had a slight yellowing of pages. It must be a secondhand bookstore, Hikaru guessed.

"Trying to find something to read," Akari replied while scrutinizing a book in her hand. "Most of these books are in ancient Japanese kanji. I already have difficulty reading normal kanji."

"We can go to the bookstore near Haze," Hikaru suggested. "I'm not going to the Go salon ever, so I might as well go get some Go kifu books. Maybe a few tsumego as well."

Akari agreed readily and soon they were on their way to the large bookstore near Haze Middle School, Hikaru's prospective school- if he continued having such terrible marks in elementary school and if he couldn't get into Shinsei Academy. It was the largest bookstore in their neighbourhood, stocking books from all over Japan and even from outside the country.

"Check this out, Akari." Hikaru passed a couple of books to his friend, who was staring at the floor-to-ceiling collection of books with awe in her face. It was her first time here, so Hikaru understood her feelings. The first time Sai had nagged at him to check out the bookstore, Hikaru had grumbled it, but the breathtaking architecture in the store had taken his breath away. Sai had been so happy at the sight of the books too.. At the thought of Sai, Hikaru felt like choking, but luckily Akari had interrupted his thoughts.

"[Touya Meijin's Go Tutorial], [Tsumego Book Intermediate 4], [A Collection of Shusaku's Kifu], [The History of Shusaku's Go], [Honinbo Shusaku's Go]. What is with you and this Shusaku guy?" Akari read the titles of the books aloud and asked.

"It's Sai's Go," Hikaru said simply. Akari just nodded with a strange look on her face, like the expression one would have when one hears a student's excuse that the dog ate the homework.

"Woah!" Akari gasped when she caught sight of the price. "4,200 yen for [Touya Meijin's Go book], 2,000 yen for [Tsumego Book Intermediate 4]- Are you sure you don't want to start with Beginner 1, Hikaru?- 3,500 yen for [A Collection of Shusaku's Kifu].. How are you going to afford this?"

"Are you serious?" Hikaru blurted as he rushed to Akari's side. Indeed, staring out at him from the back of the book were large numbers 3,500 yen. "That's seven bowls of ramen!" He said it so loud that people four rows over had shot dark looks at the boy.

"Figures you will think of the price in bowls of ramen, Hikaru," Akari said drily.

In the end, Hikaru only bought a book, [A Collection of Shusaku's Kifu]. As the cashier checked out his book, Hikaru noticed that the cashier had looked surprised.

"You're a fan of Shusaku?" The cashier asked, looking at Hikaru with an accessing eye. "You play Go?"

Hikaru had felt uncomfortable. Was it so rare that a child would play Go? "Yeah."

"Total is 3,500 yen," the cashier said, bored. He ducked down the counter, as if rummaging for something, and came back up with a phamplet. Hikaru handed over the exact amount, feeling his stomach pang as if already missing the seven bowls of ramen, accepting the phamplet that the cashier passed to him.

"Junior Go Competition for children below 12," Hikaru read out loud. It was held on Saturday, at a place a few train stops away from his house. Hikaru decided then and there to go visit it. Maybe they were even still accepting registrations on the day itself, even though it was written on the phamplet that registrations online ended last Saturday. Winning a Junior championship sounded quite pleasing. There was a complete list of Go-related events that would happen on Saturday on the other pages of the phamplet, so Hikaru tucked it into his pants pocket quickly, making a mental reminder to read it once he got home. "Thanks," Hikaru told the cashier.

"I was required to give that anyone who plays Go," the cashier replied, shrugging. He handed over the book in a plastic bag together with Hikaru's receipt. "Have a nice day."

"Um.. Hikaru," Akari piped up as they walked out the bookstore, "I can't go out on Saturday, I have to help my mom with something.."

"Awww man, does that mean you can't come to the Junior Go Competition with me?" Hikaru complained, and was about to do something dramatic and cool, like pretending to break down in the middle of the road and faux-cry, when he slammed into someone. "Ow!"

"I am so sorry!" The owner of the other voice, a nerdy looking young boy with black hair very much like Hikaru's own and thick square spectacles, gasped and helped Hikaru up to his feet.

Dazed, Hikaru could only thank the other boy as he picked up the phamplet which had fallen out of his pocket when he fell. The other boy made a noise very much like a squeak when he caught sight of the phamplet.

"You play Go?" The other boy asked Hikaru very enthusiastically.

"Yeah,"Hikaru replied, wondering what was it with people today, asking him the very same question.

"Me too!" The other boy blushed in embarrassment at his own cry. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Tsutsui Kimihiro, from Haze Middle School." Indeed, the other boy was clad in Haze's school uniform.

"I'm Shindo Hikaru," Hikaru introduced, "and she's Fujisaki Akari," Hikaru pointed at Akari, who waved as Hikaru introduced her. He neglected to state the school he was from- he never knew if this 'Tsutsui Kimihiro' could turn out to be a stalker.

"Nice to meet you!" Tsutsui said, closely echoed by Hikaru and Akari's own greeting. "Are you going for this Saturday's Junior Go Competition?"

Hikaru nodded. "Not as a competitor though, I missed the registrations. I will be going to check it out though."

Tsutsui looked very happy at that. "You wanted to register? Wow, you must be really good at Go. I don't think I'm good enough yet, so I'm just going to cheer my friend on this Saturday- he's amazing."

Akari had cut in here, looking mischievous. "I'm sure Hikaru would just lose in the first round. He's never won a Go game, nor play with anyone else."

Hikaru had stared, betrayed at Akari as the insinuations processed in his mind. "Are you calling Sai imaginary?"he hissed quietly at Akari, before turning to Tsutsui and defending himself. "I don't think I'm that bad!"

"If you tell everybody about Sai, someone's bound to think something's wrong," Akari whispered back, before smiling innocently at Tsutsui who looked bewildered. Hikaru accepted the explanation unhappily- he wanted people know about Sai! But the conversation flowed on without Hikaru being able to say anything, so he let it be for now.

"I can teach you some Go on Saturday," Tsutsui offered. "I know quite a lot of the basics. Maybe my friend will be willing to guide a new player too. He's guided me a lot."

Hikaru grumbled that he wasn't _that_ bad, but Akari had graciously accepted the offer for Hikaru.

"Thanks," Hikaru muttered to Akari as they left for home after, "but really, I'm not as terrible as you think I am at Go!"

"Riiiight," Akari, as usual, had waved his protest off.

* * *

**Monday Night**

"_Makemashita. I've lost, again." Hikaru bowed his head toward Sai, yet with a small smile on his face._

"_It was a good game, Hikaru," Sai's smile was hidden behind his fan, but Hikaru could see the crinkles of the ghost's eyes. "Would you like to hazard a guess, where you went wrong?"_

_Hikaru nodded, before clearing the board and recreating the game up to the twenty-third hand. "Here's my first mistake, instead of putting this black stone here, I should have placed it here." He put the black stone first at its original space, before moving it to the better spot to the right._

_Sai nodded, peering at the board intently. "I would have then played a high kakari, endangering your small cluster in the area though."_

_Hikaru blinked, before looking again. "Oh. I did not think of it."_

"_Try again," Sai encouraged._

_Hikaru closed his eyes, giving himself up to 'Sai mode', as he calls it. He started analysing Sai's past plays, matching and comparing it to the current game, finding the perfect move to counter Sai's current move._

"_Here." Hikaru opening his eyes, and placed his stone outside the Sai's large cluster. _

_To any unexperienced Go player, it would have seemed as suicide. But Sai and Hikaru knew better. It may not be Sai's style to play such high risk, high reward moves often, but Hikaru had witnessed Sai play this hand once, and it had ended up with Hikaru's overwhelming defeat of 12 points, even with a six stone handicap. Mid-game had been going splendidly, with Hikaru obtaining many large clusters, but with that one move, Sai had orchestrated the devastating end-game that won him the game._

"_Why?" Sai tested Hikaru's reasoning._

"_Because of this." Hikaru then played out the rest of the hands for both black and white, and Sai was filled with guilt that he might just have stunted the growth of an aspiring new Go player. _

_Every single hand was his joseki. _

"_I wish you would live your life too, Hikaru." Sai said, eyes now sad._

"_I am." Hikaru replied, looking at the ghost strangely. "What made you think I'm not?"_

"_Sometimes I forget you're still a child, Hikaru," Sai said teasingly. "It's nothing. I'm just worried about you."_

"_Don't be," Hikaru said strongly, grinning. "I'll get better at Go and then you'll see me as an adult!"_

"_It's not only about Go, it's about everything else as well. Don't live your life for others, but appreciate those people who are there for you too."_

"_Yeah, yeah," Hikaru waved off Sai's advice, as it took a tone too serious for him to bear. It always felt like last words these few days. Like all this was happening in Sai's will. "Another game?" Hikaru asked, knowing that Sai wouldn't say no._

"_Yes please!"_

**Wednesday**

It was physical education as the last period again, Hikaru really hated feeling sweaty at the end of a school day. Whoever created the timetable should burn.

Hikaru was feeling as if today would be a good day. He invited Akari over after school, promising to teach her what he knew about Go before they went for the Go pro's classes this Friday, and go through the book he bought yesterday, so that they wouldn't seem like total noobs to the Go pro.

"Hey Shindo!"

Hikaru was filled with a sense of deja vu as he paused in his walk to the school gates. Like yesterday, Izumo was the one who called him, but this time he was flanked by two buddies, Daichi, the captain of the Elementary School's soccer team, and Kiharo, the goalkeeper. Together with Izumo, they were the soccer friends Hikaru felt closest to.

"Hey Izumo, Kiharo, Daichi," Hikaru greeted, continuing his trek toward the gates once the soccer buddies caught up to him. "What's up?"

"'What's up?' You're what's up, Hikaru! Why did you quit the soccer team?" Kiharo demanded as soon as Hikaru finished his greeting.

"I told Izumo, I don't have time," Hikaru defended himself.

"Don't have time? What are you busy with?" Kiharo relentlessly interrogated Hikaru, not showing any signs of stopping even when Akari ran up to them as soon as the school gates were in sight.

"_A girlfriend?"_ Daichi hissed as soon as he caught sight of Akari. "Isn't she your neighbour?"

"No," Hikaru hissed back, "Akari's just a friend, and yes, she is my neighbour."

"_What _are you busy with then?" Kiharo continued.

"Nothing okay?" Hikaru protested, still unwilling to tell his friends that he wanted to devout his time into playing Go.

"Bullshit," snarled Daichi. "You better tell us what you're up to."

Hikaru was starting to get annoyed. He never really liked the way Daichi had a temper, especially when they lost. Daichi was the captain because of his good situation awareness and his skills though, so Hikaru had been content to let it be.

"Hey Hikaru," Akari greeted during the silence. "Are you talking about Go?" she asked, innocently.

Hikaru turned and hissed at Akari. "Traitor!"

"_GO?"_The three soccer fanatics yelled at the same time. "The old man's game?" Izumo added.

"Yeah, that," Hikaru muttered.

"Ew, since when do you play something so uncool?" Kiharo wrinkled his nose.

"It's not uncool, I like it," Hikaru said, sounding very unconvincing, even to himself. Immediately he thought to himself that no, he should like it very much because his fa- because Sai had liked it very much. "I like it very much,"he said, stronger this time.

"Lame game," snorted Daichi. "You're giving up soccer just for Go?"

Hikaru shook his head, trying to calm down and not flare up at his friends just because they thought Go as lame. "Just for the moment. I've got to set up a schedule and plan my time properly before I can pick up any other side hobbies, like soccer."

"Side hobbies?" Kiharo scowled. "You're putting that old man's game as priority?"

Hikaru nodded mutely, feeling exasperated. Akari was just standing quietly at the side, glancing ever so often at the one who had spoken, just like when watching a soccer game, eyes following the ball.

"Okay whatever, go have fun with that stupid game and that stupid girl," Daichi snarled at Hikaru , who flared up when Akari was mentioned. His patience had snapped with the captain's last comment. A quick glance at Akari had let Hikaru know that Akari had been on the verge of tears at the captain's insult.

"Why are you treating my friends and my hobbies so badly?" Hikaru had retorted, shoving Daichi, who had steadily been getting closer and closer to his person in order to threaten Hikaru, backward.

"Because they're stupid!" Daichi shoved Hikaru back as Izumo and Kiharo backed him up, tempting Hikaru to get into a fist fight with his former friends.

"Don't, Hikaru, it's okay," murmured Akari as she grabbed Hikaru's arm, tugging him toward the school gate. "Let's just go."

For once, Hikaru listened to Akari as he knew Sai would have liked him to, despite wanting to turn around and sock the creep in the face when Daichi once again yelled, "yeah! Listen to your girlfriend, loser!" as a parting goodbye.

"Sorry for my friends, Akari," Hikaru apologised as soon as they were out of earshot. "They're not my friends anymore though."

"It's okay Hikaru," Akari assured, even though Hikaru knew that she wasn't feeling 'okay'.

"Are you still up for Go at my place?" Hikaru asked hopefully.

"I should go home," Akari excused herself, "I don't feel well."

Hikaru frowned. Evidently, Akari was very much affected by the insult that Daichi had dealt her. "Okay," Hikaru accepted. "I'll get you chocolate to make up for it."

"It's fine!" Akari decline immediately. Hikaru knew that it was only for appearances sake though, Akari loved chocolate and would not complain if he got her some. Hikaru remembered his mother had some chocolate in the fridge at home, reminding himself to check it when he got home and bring the chocolate to Akari's house next door.

"Mom!" Hikaru called as soon as he got home.

Shindo Mitsuko, a homely woman and the best mother ever, poked her head out from the kitchen, where she was most probably preparing dinner. "Yes, Hikaru?"

"Do we have any chocolate?" Hikaru asked, heading straight to the fridge after dumping his school bag at the door.

"Take off your socks!" Hikaru's mother screeched as soon as she saw. "And yes we do have some Meiji chocolate with macademia. Why do you need it?"

"Later mom. I'm going to head over to Akari's to give her the chocolate. My soccer friends, y'know, Kiharo and Daichi and company, they made Akari cry by calling her stupid," Hikaru explained as he ransacked the fridge. "Ah, here it is. Thanks mom, I'll be back soon." Upon saying that, Hikaru headed out the main door, box of chocolate in hand.

Hikaru was back within half an hour, sucking on a popsicle. At his mother's questioning look, Hikaru volunteered, "Akari's mom gave it to me. She also tried to give me a packet of sweets, but it was strawberry, and I don't like strawberry.."

His mother had shook her head in amusement at her son's words.

"Oh yeah, mom," Hikaru turned around halfway up the stairs to his room, "if you ever meet my soccer friends, y'know, Kiharo, Izumo and Daichi especially, don't be nice to them. Be as mean to them as possible! Make them cry! They're not my friends anymore, they made Akari cry." Hikaru had pouted before rushing up the rest of the steps.

Hikaru's mother had smiled. "Kids. I'm sure they'll be back to being friends in no time," she commented to the fish stew she had been watching over. "Nice to see that Hikaru's so close to Akari, don't you think, Fish-san?"She asked, poking the fish head sticking out of the broth. The fish head didn't reply, just flipped over so that it was staring at her with its right eye instead.

"I should get a hobby," Mitsuko mused to herself. "Maybe that Go game that 'Sai' plays?"

She was distracted when a loud crash sound came from Hikaru's room. "Are you okay, Hikaru?" she called, receiving a muffled "okay!" in reply. "Then again, I don't have time for any of that. The boy's a handful on his own. And you too, Fish-san," Mitsuko told the fish head when a particularly large broth bubble popped, spraying bits of fish soup onto her hand. "The boys will starve if I didn't cook every meal."

* * *

**Thursday Dream**

_Like every night since Sai's disappearance, Hikaru begun dreaming. _

_It didn't start with the lucid dreams with Sai that Hikaru enjoyed. It started with the dreams where Hikaru was just a spectator. He felt like he wasn't really there, like he was watching a movie in first person._

_Today's dream was of Sai and baby Hikaru. Something new. The last few days had been Sai's memories of his younger self._

_Hikaru smiled softly as Sai made funny faces at the baby that was him in the crib. Baby Hikaru had giggled, reaching up for the ghost, grasping Sai's long, black hair. Sai had poked his nose, making baby Hikaru's face scrunch up cutely._

_And then it was over, and Hikaru was suddenly in the empty courtyard of the Imperial palace, where it was night and the silhouette of Sai and their goban could be seen illuminated from within a room. _

_Sai, who had been staring at the goban in contemplative silence, looked up at the sound of the door opening. A smile spread across his beautiful face as he welcomed Hikaru, gesturing him to take a seat opposite him. "Ne, how was your day, Hikaru-kun~?"_

"_The same as ever, nothing much changed from yesterday."_

_Sai seemed to be searching for something as he examined Hikaru's face, looking strangely serious. "Are you still upset about your friends? I told you, you should also live your life-"_

"_I am!" Hikaru interrupted, tired of hearing the same words again from his mentor/friend/parent. What is Sai to him? Hikaru really doesn't know.._

_There was a beat of silence between the two before Hikaru chipped in. "Want to play a game?"_

"_Yes please!"_

_The mood lightened, and the previous topic lay forgotten._

* * *

**Friday**

"Hey, mom, I'm going to be staying out till late today," Hikaru told his mother after he came out from his room in the morning, yawning. Why must school start so early?

Mitsuko turned concerned eyes toward her son. "Why?" She was never very strict with her son, but it was a mother's duty to at least know where and what her son was doing.

"I'm going for Go lessons with Akari-chan," Hikaru answered, while hopping around trying to fit a sock onto his foot.

"Alright then, take care. Will you be having dinner at home?"

"I guess so,"Hikaru shrugged. "Save more allowance money that way," he said slyly.

Mitsuko laughed. "Go to school, you brat," she called out fondly as her son rushed out the door to meet Akari who was standing at the gates, early as usual, and waiting more or less patiently.

That was until Hikaru caught up to her, and Akari gave his hair a ruffle, looking annoyed at being made to wait. Again.

"Sorry Akari," Hikaru apologised. "But I don't see how you can expect me to be an alien like you and wake up earlier than I already do!"

"You're the reason why we're always cutting it close," scowled Akari. "We better be early for Go lessons with that Go pro this evening in order to make a good impression!"

"Yeah, yeah." As usual, Hikaru waved Akari's warning off. "We'll be early, no worries."

xoxoxoxoxo

"Hurry up Hikaru! We'll be late!" Akari screeched as she hurried down the corridor of the building toward the room where the Go class would be held.

"Wait up, Akari! My tummy's rebelling," Hikaru called out weakly, looking quite green. He regretting chomping down on the hamburgers so fast now. In his defense, it wasn't his fault that Burger World was having a promotion: If you manage to finish two burgers within five minutes, you'll only have to pay half the price of one. Hikaru managed to finish the two burgers and only had to pay 50 yen for them both.

After Hikaru had insisted to take a little tour of the arcade to see the new game, they were pressed for time. And another problem showed itself:

The burgers had threatened to show themselves again as soon as Hikaru started running, or, well, walking faster than normal.

When they got to the classroom where the Go class was held, Hikaru waved at Akari, signaling her to go on ahead, while he took a detour to the nearby toilet.

Akari sighed. "That Hikaru..." Left her all alone! Steeling her nerves, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door before letting herself into the classroom.

The classroom was perculiar, it was very much like a normal school's classroom, with neat rows of tables and chairs and a whiteboard at the front of the room. There were Go boards situated on some of the tables, though, and kifu paper tucked under. The class was small. Akari counted a total of three students, and she caught sight of the Go pro by the whiteboard. He was a blond man around his thirties, if Akari estimated correctly.

Akari flushed as she realized she was standing at the doorway for more than five seconds without moving, attracting the attention of the room's occupants. "Uh-m.. I-I'm here for the Go lesson," she said, before hurriedly adding, "it's my first time here and I heard there would be trial lessons available."

The Go pro said nothing, just staring at her.

Akari felt terribly nervous. "My friend is coming too if that's okay. Sir."

Finally the Go pro nodded in assent. "Very well. First trial lesson is free, but the two of you would have to pay for subsequent lessons. My name is Kushiya Keto, 3-dan, you may call me Kushiya-sensei. Is that clear?"

The Go pro's gaze was electrifying, Akari was wide-eyed. "Err.. yes sir. I mean, Kushiya-sensei." Perhaps this wasn't a good time to ask about how much the subsequent lessons would cost..

"Take a seat."

Akari slid into a seat at the back, further away from the other students. She hoped Hikaru would show up soon, feeling a flash of fond irritation when she thought of him.

"Today, we'll be pairing up as usual. New girl, you're with Mino-san for today." Kushiya-sensei gestured toward a fat, balding guy, who looked to be in his forties like the Go pro himself. Akari gave the guy a wave awkwardly as he groaned and moved seats, seating himself opposite her.

"What's your name, girl?" Kushiya-sensei asked, looking unimpressed at Akari, who was fidgeting.

"Fujisaki Akari," she squeaked.

"Do you know how to play Go, Fujisaki-san?"

Akari looked down at the goban, then at the bowls containing the black and white stones. "Umm... a little. My friend taught me the basics, like how to capture stones and stuff.."

"Very well. Why don't you start playing with Mino-san first, and I'll guide the both of you. I'll come to you guys later," Kushiya-sensei addressed the other pair.

Akari reached for the stones, but was interrupted by her opponent.

"How many stones do you need, little girl," Mino-san leered.

Akari blinked. She didn't like how the man's tone, but she didn't know what 'stones' meant. She turned to Kushiya-sensei and asked so.

Kushiya-sensei stared at her uncomprehendingly. "Are you stupid? No, don't answer that,"he said, looking at her crossly. "Why do I get all the beginners," he muttered loud enough that Akari could hear.

Akari stared. What kind of sensei was this guy?

"Stones are handicaps. Mino-san's asking how many handicaps you want in the game, Fujisaki-san."

"Oh." Akari glanced up at Mino-san, before shifting her gaze to her own black stones. "I don't know," she said lamely.

"Urgh, just start with no komi," Kushiya-sensei suggested after a moment of awkward silence. Akari's head was perpetually down, avoiding eye contact with the adults. Akari didn't know what 'komi' was, but when Mino-san put down his first stone, she thought it to mean that the game was starting just then, and placed her own stone a ways away from Mino-san's.

"Urgh, don't put that there. Don't be a coward, Fujisaki-san," Kushiya-sensei chided at her fifth hand, pointing at another spot on the board. "You could have put it here."

"Oh." Akari made a noise of acknowledgement, although she didn't really get the logic behind it.

Mino-san had also placed a stone defensively at the side instead of taking a small cluster of Akari's stones later in the game, but Kushiya-sensei had also disparaged him for that. "Don't be so afraid!"

Akari thought that Kushiya-sensei was just too aggressive in his playing style, but he was also very prone to insults when one of his students made a mistake.

"What kind of idiot would put that stone there, Fujisaki-san!"

"Sorry, sensei.." Akari murmured, disliking the guy very much. She didn't think she'd like to come back for repeat lessons at all.

"You should have placed that at 2,3 and cut off the formation of Mino-san's-"

"Actually," Kushiya-sensei's comment was cut off by a familiar voice, "that would be a stupid move. Akari was right at putting her stone at 3,4. A better place to put the stone would be at 2,5, not 2,3." Akari felt relief as Hikaru came to her rescue. He was so silent, no one in the classroom had heard him come in.

"Who are you, brat?" Kushiya-sensei demanded, looking none-too-pleased with the interruption.

"Shindo Hikaru," Hikaru replied with a cocky smirk. "Who are _you?"_

Kushiya-sensei turned purple at Hikaru's attitude, and Akari felt quite terrified that he was about to blow up and throw Hikaru (and probably her too) out of the class. "That's Kushiya-sensei, Hikaru," Akari hissed warningly at her friend, hoping that he would stop that attitude. She knew he was doing it for her. Hikaru was quite protective of his friends. Well. Of her, now that he didn't really have any other friends.

"I'm a 3-dan, boy. You better show me the respect I deserve else it's out of the classroom for you and girlie over here."

Akari shook her head when Hikaru opened his mouth to say something sassy, prompting him to keep his mouth shut. Hikaru had gave the 3-dan a glare, but obligingly kept quiet.

"Let's continue," Akari said quickly, "sorry Kushiya-sensei."

Hikaru hadn't apologised, but since Kushiya-sensei wasn't pushing for one, Akari and Mino-san just continued the game.

The silence didn't last for very long before Kushiya-sensei insulted Akari again.

"That's it!" Hikaru had seethed, "Akari, let's go. I don't care if you're a 3-dan or 10-dan or 1000-dan, you can't insult my friend like that. It's not nice, you're supposed to be a teacher! Us students come to you for lessons, of course we're not good at this game. If we were, why would we even need lessons?"

The other pair of students who were playing Go had turned to stare wide eyed at the drama that was happening. Akari felt like wilting in the attention and embarrassment. "It's okay, Hikaru, let it go, I know I'm bad at this game.."

Hikaru had shot her a look, the same one she used on him sometimes to tell him to keep quiet. "It's not you, Akari, it's this guy's attitude that I have a problem with."

Kushiya-sensei was not amused by the boy's mouthing off. Since he couldn't get in a word edgewise over Hikaru, he turned to Akari instead. "Need your boyfriend to defend you, how sad," he taunted, doubtless of the fact that the kids were _nine_ and were just best friends.

Akari felt tears welling up in her eyes. She took Hikaru's suggestion to heart and decided to leave the room. Hikaru had moved to follow her, but Kushiya had grabbed his arm.

"You need to be taken down a peg or two," Kushiya growled.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes at the teacher. "That's what I was thinking too. Shall we have a game?"

Akari was worried as she left the room. 'I should find an adult,' she thought, 'what if Kushiya decides to do something bad towards Hikaru?' She left as quickly as possible for home, so that she could get either Auntie Mitsuko, Hikaru's mother, or her own to come to Hikaru's rescue.

Hikaru started with upper right komoku, as Sai usually does. He got white, so he started after Kushiya, who put his black stone at a star point.

Pachi

Kushiya had placed another stone to his left.

Hikaru was tense. This was his first ever game played with someone other than Sai. His hand shook as he placed his stone.

Pachi

Pachi

Hikaru paused after one of Kushiya's moves. Strange, that stone didn't benefit the 3-dan at all, in fact it was detrimental. Was it a mistake? Or was it a trap?

Pachi

It seemed that it was an honest mistake, as the black stone started causing Kushiya to lose territory. Hikaru kept his senses focused. He knew how often games could turn with a single move, especially if that stone turned out to be a trap even later in the game.

Pachi

Pachi

It was strange though, Hikaru thought as he placed one stone after another. It seemed like he was _winning, _by a large margin too. Hikaru berated himself for the thought. Don't count your chickens before the eggs hatch.

Pachi

The margin was getting bigger. It wasn't his fault. Hikaru thought he could feel Sai guiding his moves. This time, he didn't even _need_ to think 'what would Sai do in this situation?' as he usually did when he was playing against himself. It seemed instinctual.

Pachi

Pachi

Hikaru didn't fight it. He let Sai's imprint guide his moves.

Pachi

Pachi!

And finally, Kushiya bowed his head.

"Arimasen, I have lost." It seemed like his defeat had drained all his energy and anger out in one fell swoop. Kushiya didn't even dare lift his head to meet Hikaru's eyes even when the boy had bit out, "thank you for the game," and stood to leave.

Kushiya knew he was not as good as his fellow Go professionals at Go. His ranking, 3-dan, was something of a joke among the Go professionals at the Go Association. He had been the butt of many jokes with some saying that he only made it to 3-dan after over forty years, and it was also only due to luck that he managed to get this far. Kushiya had his pride too. He knew that he wasn't as good as a prodigy, but he was a Go professional after all. He should have been better than the little snot rag of a boy.

But he lost to a no-name boy who came for _his tutoring lesson. _

If the boy was like Touya Akira, Kushiya would be mollified. After all, Touya was known to have Touya Meijin as his tutor since he was old enough to hold a Go stone, it was expected that even if the young Touya wasn't a prodigy, he'd still be exceptional.

But this no-name boy probably didn't have such a teacher. Kushiya couldn't think of any Go professionals with the surname 'Shindo', neither had he heard of a 'Shindo Hikaru' before today.

And he, a 3-dan professional, lost to a nine year old boy.

Kushiya clenched his fist and drove it into his thigh in anger and disappointment in himself. "What are you looking at?" He snapped at his other students. "Mino-san, I'll play with you this time."

The other forty year old man had nodded in assent.

Was it his imagination, thought Kushiya, or did Mino-san no longer respect him as much as he did in the past?

It was all that Shindo Hikaru's fault.

* * *

**Friday Night**

_After having a nice dinner of ramen, Hikaru fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow._

_This time, the 'spectator dream' was about Sai and another guy whom Hikaru didn't recognize, until Sai had addressed the other guy with the name 'Torajiro'. _

_Hikaru gaped at the man who was the 'undefeatable Shusaku' in the later years._

_His wonder didn't last very long though, as Shusaku started coughing. Hikaru's horror grew as he realised he was witnessing the death of the man when Shusaku spat out blood. _

_Hikaru's suspicions were confirmed when he saw Shusaku was sprawled on top of the goban. Sai's goban. He shut his eyes, hands clapped over his ears as he didn't, he didn't want to see Shusaku's death!_

_After what seemed like an eternity, he lifted his hands. He heard crickets chirping. Hikaru opened his eyes then, and saw the Imperial courtyard. He stumbled over to the bamboo doors and pushed them open on shaky legs. "Sai," Hikaru greeted happily, determined to push what he almost witnessed to the corner of his mind. "I played someone today. It was a Go professional, 3-dan."_

_Sai had looked up, a jubilant smile on his face. It faltered when Sai caught sight of Hikaru's white visage. "What's wrong, Hikaru? What happened?" Sai asked, surprisingly serious._

_Hikaru shook his head, before wincing as the floor spun dangerously. Sai had stood up and caught Hikaru in his arms, just as he was about to fall. Hikaru leant against his mentor, sighing. "I had a dream before I came here," Hikaru explained, "I thought I witnessed Shusaku dying."_

_Sai scrutinized Hikaru's face. "A dream? I thought this was your dream."_

_Hikaru shook his head again, before standing up straight again and heading back to his usual seat. Sai sat down opposite him, but still stared at Hikaru worriedly. "I don't think it's anything," Hikaru assured, "it's nothing."_

_Sai wanted to press it further out of worry, but Hikaru had determinedly started replaying the game that he played against that 3-dan professional today on their goban, so he let it be. He still snuck looks at the boy throughout their entire time together._

_He tried putting it aside and concentrate on the game that Hikaru showed played against that professional Go player. Once again, he saw his Go in every hand the boy played. It was too perfect. It was too accurate, too perfect to be just a mimicry of his own Go._

_There was something going on here, and Sai feared that it would end up with him having to leave Hikaru again._


End file.
